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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
How are banks managing the challenges of digital transformation? What do financial institutions need to do in order to ensure that new digital initiatives are aligned with customer preferences and needs?
In this Streamly interview, Finovate Senior Research Analyst Julie Muhn sits down with Milton Santiago, Global Head of Digital Solutions at Silicon Valley Bank. The two discuss the bank’s current digital transformation and the role of enabling technologies like AI in enhancing the customer experience, among other topics.
“What excites me the most about what’s going on in our bank is the fact that we continue to invest, we continue to focus really on what our customers need to grow their businesses and to be successful at a variety of life stages: be it at small inception where maybe it’s just you and me as a startup to where we have gone through multiple rounds of funding, or we’re a large company that is also publicly traded. Our needs are being met by the same financial organization, regardless of our size.”
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) serves many of the most innovative companies and investors in the world. A division of First Citizens Bank, SVB provides commercial and private banking services to individuals and companies in industries ranging from technology and healthcare to private equity and venture capital. With 70% of the 2024 Forbes Cloud 100 among its customers, SVB is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.
Milton Santiago has worked for Silicon Valley Bank for more than six years and is currently Global Head of Digital Services. In this role, he is responsible for creating end-to-end omni-channel and API experiences and solutions for startup (Pre-Series A) and mature companies, alike. Santiago is also a veteran industry speaker on topics including security and fraud, mobile and emerging payments, big data, and innovation.
2025 is here! Whether you’ve kept an eye on the fintech headlines over the holiday break or took a little time off from the fray, Finovate’s Fintech Rundown is here to bring you up to date on the latest happenings and developments in fintech and financial services.
We starting off with a handful of stories from the crypto/DeFi sector including a pair of regulatory approvals, as well as some partnership news in the fraud prevention and digital banking space.
Crypto / DeFi
Blockchain and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider Binancewins regulatory approval from the Central Bank of Brazil to acquire a locally licensed broker-dealer in Latin America.
Crypto payments company MoonPaysecures approval under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation and received its license on December 30.
Digital banking solutions provider Infinant has raised $15 million in Series A funding. The round was led by FINTOP Capital and JAM FINTOP BankTech, and featured participation from Raido Capital Partners, Woodforest Financial Group, and Bankers Helping Bankers.
“Financial institutions are realizing significant and responsible growth by diversifying their deposit gathering and payment channels by decoupling from the core and distributing their products across new platforms,” Infinant CEO Riaz Syed said. “FINTOP’s and JAM FINTOP’s partnership is a strong market indicator of the solution fit for Infinant in the market and will allow us to continue to grow to meet the needs of financial institutions.”
Infinant offers Interlace: a cloud-based platform that empowers banks to launch and scale their digital and embedded banking solutions. Interlace gives banks and other financial institutions greater operational and regulatory control with a platform — owned by the bank — that allows them to launch their solutions independent of the core provider or a sidecar core. Infinant supports initiatives including launching digital banks in new markets, embedding financial products and services into business applications, delivering new solutions to small businesses and commercial partners through sub-accounting, and more.
John Philpott, FINTOP partner and member of JAM FINTOP Banktech’s investment committee, credited Infinant’s embrace of what he called “a dramatic shift in the market and the approach to embedded banking and banking-as-a-service.” Noting that this new growth opportunity comes with greater oversight requirements for banks, Philpott praised the company for “meeting this need to provide banks with a platform that allows them to scale their programs while aligning to the evolving regulatory landscape.”
Infinant will use the capital to expand its product offering which currently includes Infinant’s Interlace Console for customer and account management, Settlement Ops for ledger and reconciliation management, Payments Hub for centralized payments for ACH, wire, and FedNow, as well as the company’s Card Platform that provides card issuance and processing directly to Visa DPS.
Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and founded in 2020, Infinant came to the attention of Finovate audiences courtesy of FinovateFall 2024. Since then, the company has forged partnerships with Missouri-based First Bank of the Lake and, most recently, with North Texas-based Legend Bank. Both financial institutions will deploy Infinant’s Interlace platform to enhance their growth strategies.
“Infinant’s deep experience in banking technology and their advanced platform tailored to bankers were key factors in our decision to select them as our partner,” Legend Bank Fintech Strategic Partnerships Lead John Michael Davis said. “The Interlace platform is flexible and adaptive to a wide variety of business models, yet also minimizes the technical burden upon us as a bank.”
Seven Finovate alums raised more than $132 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, and more than $553 million for the full year. The figures trail those from 2023, in which 11 alums raised more than $307 million in Q4 and approximately $1.2 billion for the year. This data also reflects the ongoing funding challenges faced by fintech companies at a time of high interest rates and industry consolidation.
Looking specifically at the fourth quarter of this year, we see a wide range in funding levels, from Wallit’s modest $1.4 million raise to Zopa’s year-ending $87 million score. It is also worth noting that the amount of one investment, the October funding for CardFlight, the level was not disclosed.
Previous Quarterly Comparisons
Q4 2023: More than $1.2 billion raised by 11 alums
Q4 2022: More than $380 million raised by 15 alums
Q4 2021: More than $1.2 billion raised by seven alums
Q4 2020: More than $472 million raised by 17 alums
Q4 2019: More than $876 million raised by 21 alums
This year’s fourth quarter funding tally is the lowest Q4 in many years, representing less than half of what was raised in 2022. Q4 2024 did see a pickup in funding relative to the previous quarter, both in terms of investment total and the number of alums funded, and is slightly higher than the amount Finovate alums raised in the first quarter of the year (nine alums raising more than $113 million).
Top Quarterly Equity Investments
The top three quarterly equity investments for the quarter were Zopa’s $87 million funding in December, interface.ai’s $20 million fundraising in October, and MODIFI’s $15 million fundraising in November. These three investments combined represent more than 92% of the total funding raised by all alums in Q4 2024.
Here is our detailed alum funding report for Q4 2024.
October: More than $22 million raised by three alums
If you are a Finovate alum that raised money in the fourth quarter of 2024, and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at research@finovate.com. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.
It’s a holiday-shortened week here at the Fintech Rundown. But rest assured that we’ll have you covered on the the top fintech news headlines as 2024 moves toward a close.
We’re starting off with a series of stories in the embedded finance front, including an acquisition, a new launch, and a major fundraising.
Digital banking
Data-driven statement provider HC3forges strategic partnership with digital banking solutions company Apiture.
As 2025 approaches, where will new opportunities arise for financial institutions, financial services providers, and fintechs looking to expand into new markets?
In this week’s Finovate Global interview, I talk with Lewis Ide, Vice President for 10x Banking, about the opportunities in high-growth markets in APAC and Africa.
Part of the company’s senior leadership team, Ide is responsible for the strategy, growth, and execution of the business objectives at 10x Banking. He has a 13-year career in financial services technology with leadership roles in payments, financial infrastructure, and AML platforms.
10x Banking first introduced itself to Finovate audiences with its debut at FinovateEurope 2023 in London. The company won Best of Show for a demonstration of its 10x SuperCore Cards which enable banks to build a card proposition in minutes with 10x’s Bank Manager interface. Founded in 2016, 10x Banking is headquartered in London, U.K.
There is a lot of interest in high growth markets around the world, especially in the APAC region and in Africa. What is driving growth opportunities in these markets – starting with APAC?
Lewis Ide: I think it comes down to demographics first of all: APAC in particular has a young, growing, digitally-native population. Economies in this region are growing rapidly and with that come opportunities for growth in the financial services industry. And typically the countries across APAC are very innovation-friendly.
Regulation also really supports innovation. One example is in Thailand, where the regulator is releasing new digital banking licenses to support the growth of the industry from a digital-first point of view.
This all feeds into banks being able to benefit from core transformation, moving away from batch transactions to real-time transactions. They are also able to scale in user numbers and transaction volumes as the population grows and becomes even more digital-first. And the thing that makes that growth even more sustainable is the hyper-personalization that modern cores allow for, so banks in APAC can create unique offerings that consumers need.
What do small businesses in APAC need that they have not been getting from traditional financial services?
Ide: I think the first thing to say here is that traditionally, SME offerings have been bucketed into either the retail or the corporate bank offerings. Neither of these is really built around what small businesses need, so there is a demand in the market for tailored solutions.
The next thing is cost: these services are typically costly for SMEs because they aren’t tailored. I think what we’re now starting to see is a shift away from that bucketing towards banks being able to launch services that are specific and personalized to the needs of small businesses. That includes broadening access to credit, making it cheaper, and designing the products that the business needs at the time that they need them.
And again it’s innovation that is enabling this. The availability of agile, cloud-native infrastructures allows for a much more effective cost-to-income ratio control. And that in turn means that they can pass the cost benefits on to their customers in the form of new products at compelling price points. So the shift here is from high-cost services to tailored, personalized ones. And that’s been made achievable by agile, cloud-native core platforms.
What has prevented or limited the ability of financial institutions to respond to these pain points?
Ide: I would say the biggest thing is the legacy technology in place. In the last decade or so, neo cores emerged as a way to address the problems of legacy infrastructures, but they now come with almost a “neo legacy” of their own with limited ability to scale or personalize. Those that are able to be personalized can be very challenging to maintain or upgrade once the code has been written.
But in the last five to six years we’ve started to see a huge positive shift within the neobanks that has highlighted where the legacy and neo core platforms are now coming under pressure with those changing customer expectations.
That pressure comes from the way those legacy architectures were constructed. They were monolithic in nature and didn’t necessarily allow for hyper-personalization. They were also batch-based systems, very expensive to run on the mainframe. All of this requires specific and costly resources and makes it difficult for banks to respond to all of these pain points.
What changes have taken place or are taking place that are giving innovative companies the opportunity to step in with new solutions?
Ide: The adoption of cloud-native platforms that are microservice and API-based has been transformational in terms of the industry opportunity. This is why we launched the world’s first meta core at 10x Banking — to give customers access to a cloud-native core banking platform that overcomes the compromises of both legacy and neo cores.
This then allows customers to launch products at speed, gives them the hyper-personalization that they need, as well as doing so at a very low cost and with the ability to scale to hundreds of thousands of transactions per second, overcoming a number of the challenges that the industry has faced with great success.
What specific roles do you see for AI in helping institutions improve their operations and expand their services?
Ide: I think from our perspective, before we get to AI, it’s about data. The data structures that we use in this industry are the foundations of AI capability. You need to have access to high-quality, unsiloed data so there is a single source of truth across the business from which AI models can be launched.
From a core banking perspective, there are many things AI can enable, but three that spring to mind. First, at the customer layer, AI can personalize recommendations, power chatbots and make credit lending more efficient. Next is integration and transformation, enabling banks to connect all their systems together in a more efficient, composable architecture. Banks have a real opportunity to leverage AI to build better migration capability here. Finally – and this is something we are looking to support at 10x – is the ability to use AI to help code and create hyper-personalized products and services.
What the meta core allows our customers to do, for example, is get their data ready for AI, so they can unlock its full potential. So I always go back to that: making sure the data is clean and the structures are unsiloed so it’s all ready to go when you do start using AI.
Looking at Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, what is driving growth there?
Ide: Africa is similar in some ways to APAC, so what I mentioned before in terms of the young demographic holds true here too. It’s a massive region, of course, so it’s hard to generalize. But there are some notable nuances in the way innovation is deployed in Africa. The mobile telecommunications networks like Safaricom and M-Pesa have been at the center of that, offering money transfer services alongside the telecommunications services.
Much of the growth here is driven by the desire to bring more people into the banked economy. Financial inclusion is big on the agenda. If you can reduce the percentage of unbanked people from, for example, 20% to 10%, that’s a big growth in customer numbers for banking and financial services. That’s a lot more people to provide services to, which again links back to the importance of scalability and personalization.
Some have suggested that Africa is the ideal example of a region unencumbered by complex legacy financial systems. Can you elaborate on how this impacts the environment for innovation and new ideas?
Ide: I would say that’s not the full story. The mobile telephone networks and operators have driven a lot of innovation as I touched on before, and there is a broad appetite for innovation across Africa in general. But there are challenges around the continued use of mainframe infrastructure, which is slowing banks down. As that has become more obvious, banks have been looking to core modernization, as well as partnerships with the mobile networks. This will enable them to extend their capability and services, which is a benefit for both the banks and the mobile networks.
Are there any trends in banking and financial services in the APAC or Africa that you think are underappreciated or even unrecognized? Are there opportunities there that 10x Banking is pursuing?
Ide: The major trend that goes underappreciated at the moment is in corporate banking. We have been working and investing heavily in this area, so I can speak from first-hand experience, with active projects in Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, South Africa, and Kenya to name a few. At the moment, there is a massive shift underway in corporate banking, moving from batch to real-time transactions, modernizing their cores. This will enable them to radically increase transaction processing volumes to better serve the demands of new and existing customers in the market.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Israeli fintech startup and chargeback management specialist Justt raised $30 million in Series C funding.
Merchants in Paymob’s network in Egypt can now accept Apple Pay.
Middle East-based payment solutions provider Magnati partnered with Arabian Automobiles Company (AAC).
Central and Southern Asia
India’s Karnataka Bank partnered with hybrid multicloud computing company Nutanix.
TBC Uzbekistan launchedOsmon Card, its first credit card product.
India-based high-yield savings account Curie Money raised $1.2 million in seed funding.
Latin America and the Caribbean
El Salvador announced its intention to continue accumulating Bitcoin, but will discontinue its Bitcoin wallet Chivo as part of a financing deal with the IMF.
Uruguay-based cross-border payments company Bamboo teamed up with monetization platform Coda to enhance the gaming payment experience in Colombia.
Latin American payment platform AstroPay launched its multi-currency wallet.
Nigeria’s Bamboo became the first Nigerian fintech to acquire a U.S. broker-dealer license.
Central and Eastern Europe
Bulgaria joined the European Central Bank’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) service.
Episode Six partnered with Secupay to provide asylum seekers in Germany with payment cards to access financial assistance from the government.
Bank of Georgia turned to Cloudera to better leverage data analytics to enhance the customer experience.
Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope 2025 in London? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.
DeepTarget, a digital marketing services provider for financial institutions, has launched its AI-powered email service AImail.
The new offering empowers community banks and credit unions with enterprise-level marketing capabilities to enable them to deliver personalized communications at scale.
DeepTarget made its Finovate debut at our all-digital conference FinovateWest 2020. The company is headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama.
DeepTargetunveiled its AI-powered email service, AImail, this week. The technology is a full-service solution that provides credit unions and community banks with enterprise-level marketing services to deliver personalized communications at scale.
In a statement, the company highlighted the fact that email remains an important channel of communications between financial institutions and their customers. Email remains the most cost-effective channel for most FIs, helping them reach account holders who may not frequent a brick-and-mortar branch or take advantage of digital banking. At the same time, many community banks and credit unions have struggled to maximize email as a communications channel due to resource challenges, regulatory issues, or inadequate data analysis capabilities.
“While new channels emerge constantly, email remains the most universal and trusted way to reach account holders,” DeepTarget CEO Preetha Pulusani said. “Nearly every adult with a bank account has an email address, and not all of them visit branches or use digital banking. They expect to receive important financial communications through this channel.”
To this end, AImail combines AI technology with deep financial services expertise in the form of fractional digital marketing experts. This enables AImail to deliver compliant personalization and regulator-friendly content, as well as targeted optimization to ensure that marketing campaigns reach the best audiences for maximum impact. AImail embeds banner ads in each email campaign that use GenAI images and messages created by DeepTarget’s ADbuzz technology to enhance engagement. The solution streamlines marketing campaigns, boosting email engagement rates by up to 3x, and provides valuable metrics including built-in ROI tracking and reporting.
“What makes AImail revolutionary is its ability to transform these routine touchpoints into meaningful, personalized conversations that drive engagement and growth,” Pulusani said. “What used to take marketing teams weeks to accomplish now happens with our experts using AImail on behalf of financial institutions, with robust results and strong compliance controls.”
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, DeepTarget made its Finovate debut at our all-digital conference, FinovateWest2020. At the event, the company demonstrated its 3DStoryTeller solution. 3DStoryTeller blends the intelligence and capabilities of the company’s Digital Experience Platform with a 3D user interface that enables financial institutions to offer a unique experience featuring visual stories that engage and entertain customers.
One of the latest developments in the payments space, Refunds-as-a-Service, promises to bring innovation to an area of customer experience – refunds – in which more than a trillion dollars of value are exchanged every year.
In today’s Streamly interview, Jeremy Balkin, Founder and CEO of TodayPay, talks with me about his path from a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan to the launch of his refunds-as-a-service startup. Balkin explains the inspiration behind the decision, the company’s progress to date, as well as TodayPay’s upcoming direct-to-consumer product launch.
“We’re the world’s first dedicated refund payment network. It’s an alternative payment method for both merchants and consumers to receive refunds. We’re pioneering a category we like to call refunds-as-a-service, serving merchants, marketplaces, insurers, issuers, and consumers to get a better refund experience.”
A finalist in the “Top Emerging Fintech” category of the 2024 Finovate Awards, TodayPay enables merchants to offer their customers instant refunds over a variety of payment choices, including cashback. A pioneer in the field of Refunds-as-a-Service, TodayPay is part of the Visa Fasttrack program.
Before launching TodayPay, Jeremy Balkin was a Managing Director for J.P. Morgan in New York City where he led fintech innovation and corporate development in the payment space.
Blockchain data platform Chainalysis has acquired web3 security solutions provider Hexagate.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition aligns with Chainalysis’ mission to build trust in blockchain ecosystems by integrating Hexagate’s machine learning-based threat detection and prevention technology, benefiting chains, protocols, and exchanges.
Blockchain data platform Chainalysis has acquired web3 security solutions provider Hexagate this week. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Hexagate’s security solutions detect and mitigate real-time threats, including cyber exploits, hacks, and governance and financial risks to help chains, protocols, asset managers, and exchanges keep their funds secure. The Israel-based company monitors blockchain networks and leverages machine learning to identify suspicious patterns and transactions in real-time. Hexagate’s customers include Coinbase and Consensys.
“I have long believed that in order to advance the Chainalysis mission to build trust in blockchains, we would need to expand our business beyond investigations and into prevention,” said Chainalysis Co-founder and CEO Jonathan Levin.
With billions of dollars in crypto stolen each year, Chainalysis anticipates that Hexagate will help create a safer financial platform that fosters trust in solutions. Levin added that protecting the crypto ecosystem will only become more crucial as smart contracts facilitate more value and the use of stablecoins grow. He also noted that governments are increasing the monitoring of smart contracts associated with illicit funds.
Chainalysis was founded in 2014 and has raised $537 million. Among its offerings are automated cryptocurrency transaction monitoring software, investigation software for tracing the flow of funds across blockchains, and profiles of cryptocurrency businesses. Today’s deal marks the company’s third acquisition, following its purchase of Transpose in 2023.
U.K.-based stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK secured a $50 million Series B round, boosting its valuation to $750 million.
The round was led by Haun Ventures with participation from Coinbase Ventures and Tiger Global.
BVNK plans to launch in the U.S. next month with offices in New York and San Francisco.
As living proof that the stablecoin revolution is underway, stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK has raised $50 million. The investment is the U.K.-based fintech’s first round since 2022 and boosts its valuation to around $750 million.
Haun Ventures led the Series B round, which also included participation from Coinbase Ventures and existing investor Tiger Global. Notably, Haun Ventures is also an investor in stablecoin infrastructure startup Bridge, which was acquired by Stripe for over $1 billion in October of this year.
“Every competitor of Stripe is coming to us saying, ‘Stripe’s done this, how can we get involved in the space now?'” BVNK cofounder and CEO Jesse Hemson-Struthers told Fortune.
Stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat or a physical asset, have the potential to bring significant value to users. That’s because they are both instant and inexpensive, unlike payments made via traditional payments rails such as SWIFT. Stablecoins have exceptional potential for cross-border payments and remittances. They offer greater accessibility compared to traditional banking systems, while also mitigating the volatility typically associated with other cryptocurrencies.
Stablecoin infrastructure companies like BVNK and its competitor Bridge are key players in the stablecoin space, as they serve as on-and-off ramps for converting fiat into stablecoins and back.
BVNK was founded in 2021 and currently processes an annualized volume of $10 billion. The company integrates with established banking networks like SWIFT and SEPA to provide real-time settlement and the ability to operate outside of standard banking hours. BVNK has historically focused on the European and Asian markets, but plans to launch in the U.S. next month, opening offices in New York and San Francisco.
Capitalise, a business finance platform based in the U.K., has forged a strategic partnership with data and open finance network Plaid.
The collaboration integrates Plaid’s open banking services with Capitalise’s Instant Offers to simplify and streamline small business funding.
Capitalise made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2016. Plaid has been a Finovate alum since 2014.
U.K.-based business finance platform Capitalise has announced a strategic collaboration with fellow Finovate alum Plaid. The partnership is designed to simplify business funding, leveraging Open Banking to offer pre-approvals to 150,000 small businesses. Capitalise will integrate Plaid’s Open Banking services into its Instant Offers solution to enable businesses to secure pre-approvals from multiple lenders. Businesses will be able to accept offers and receive funding in minutes rather than days or weeks.
The partnership enhances Capitalise’s lending origination service by removing friction from the funding process. It will also help boost conversions thanks to faster decision-making that relies on accurate, real-time data. The collaboration comes at a time when a growing number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the U.K. are embracing open banking technology. Plaid reported that adoption of open banking by U.K.-based SMEs has increased by 18% year-over-year.
“Open Banking sits at the core of SME credit decisioning and brings confidence to underwriting risk assessments,” Capitalise Co-Founder Ollie Maitland said. “These advances, in tandem with the huge growth in private credit markets, can bring down the high cost of non-bank lending. This is good news for U.K. small businesses.”
Open banking brings faster application processes, access to real-time financial data to accelerate approvals, and the ability to offer personalized rates, which can lower costs for borrowers. Challenger banks and alternative lenders have become huge players in the market for SME lending, representing more than 60% of new SME lending in the U.K. This has led to more options for small businesses looking for funding, and more competition between those looking to fund them.
“Pre-approvals have been the perfect use-case for Open Banking as a win for business owners browsing and great pre-qualification for lenders looking to lend,” Maitland said. “Plaid was a natural choice with their experience in SME lending plus their global presence.”
Founded in 2013 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Plaid offers an international data and open finance network that helps make payments simpler and lending more accessible. With more than 100 million global users in more than 18 countries, Plaid’s technology helps institutions take advantage of open banking and open finance connectivity to grow revenues and fight fraud. Plaid has partnered with more than 12,000 companies — including members of the Fortune 500 — to help them provide their customers with greater choice and control over their financial lives.
Capitalise made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2016. At the conference, Maitland and co-founder Paul Surtees demonstrated how the company’s platform uses behavioral data to match and rank lenders and algorithms to compare more than 2,500 data points to find the most appropriate funding solutions for businesses. Today, the firm’s lending marketplace features 100 lenders, including 10 integrated Open Finance lenders on its Instant Offers framework.
Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope 2025 in London? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.
Digital challenger bank Currentraised $200 million, boosting its total funding to over $600 million.
Current plans to use the funding to enhance and scale its accessible financial products that promote inclusion.
As part of today’s announcement, Current reported a 90% revenue increase this year and welcomed new investors General Catalyst and Cross River Bank.
Digital bank Current received $200 million in fresh capital this week. Along with the announcement, the New York-based company revealed that it experienced a record-breaking year, seeing a 90% increase in revenue.
The company has raised just over $600 million, inclusive of today’s round. Current plans to use the funds to build more accessible financial solutions.
Existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Wellington Management, and Avenir contributed to the round. Two new investors, General Catalyst and Cross River, also participated. Current expects General Catalyst’s investment will drive member acquisition and fuel profitability. The company also said that Cross River Bank is extending warehouse funding to support Current’s Paycheck Advance product and credit-building card offering.
“Millions of Americans are struggling with affordable access to liquidity and credit,” said Current CEO and co-founder Stuart Sopp. “This new capital provides us the most efficient way to scale these solutions, including providing even higher limits of our earned wage access product to more people and setting our company on the best path to long-term success, including reaching profitability in 2025.”
Current was founded in 2015 to create a banking system that’s more affordable, accessible, and innovative. The company has a credit-building card, early paycheck advance product, fee-free overdraft, crypto trading platform, as well as a high-yield savings account with a transaction round-up savings feature.
“Current’s tremendous growth this year showcases the true product-market fit it has unlocked,” said General Catalyst’s Roy Mabrey. “We are excited to invest in the future of Current because of its demonstrated ability to scale with great unit economics and the key gap it is stepping up to fill in the market for millions of Americans who are struggling to make ends meet. We look forward to supporting Stuart and the team as they continue to grow and be at the forefront of product innovation.”
